Controlling mechanism



E. P. RENAUX Er AL 1,918,667

CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed July 2l, 1931 gy; @L

July 13, 1933- E. P. RENAUX Er AL CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed July 2l, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 mama July 18, 1933. E. P. RENAUX Er AL 1,918,667

coNTRoLLING MEQHANISM l Filed .I uly 21. 1931 4 sheets-sheet 4 @Ranaux @Swami Patented July 18, 1933 EUGENE rnosrnza RENAUX, oF

FRANCE'- y f ooNTRoLLrNG MECHANISM Appncatign. med `my 21, 1931, serial No. 552,278, and in rrancaaugust 1, 1930.

`Manyunechanical driving gears,- and 'in particular those adapted to beusedfforlthe' steering of automobile vehicles, are` being constantly `studied in order to improve their 5 precision and safety.

One of thechief drawbacks of said gears is the rapidity with which they n work loose. Particularly in the case; of steering gears for automobiles, as soon asbacklash has begun to appear in the gear, either in the ordinarywor 1n and sector orwormand nut types;

or in other types, the steeringsystem be? comes loose, unreliable andfeven dangerous, loses its quality y'of relative irreversibility, and the so-called fshimmy effects develope freely. l l Our invention relates to driving gears and in particular to steering 'gearsfor automobiles, "and its Objectis to do away with the effects of backlashby doing away with their cause,that is by allowing no playto develope inthegear. .f y

According to' a characteristic of my in `vention,` the organto be driven (drag link 4or otherpiece), is connected,either directly Aor not, and through the mediumof "one or severalelastic de'v1ces,'to two organs adapted` to be driven alternately, according to the directionr'of thedisplacement to be produced, by any vsuitable actuating device in contact with which they are constantly maintained withoutplay by theabove mentioned elastic devices.`

'Other characteristics will" result from the followingy description "of preferred embodiments of our invention with reference to the f Vaccompanying drawings, given merely by way of'example and in'which s Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical view in ysection of a steering gear for an automobile vehicle, of the worm and sector type, accord'- ing to our invention;

' `Fig.`2 is a corresponding 'side view, some parts being outv away for the sake of clearness; f n

Fig. 3 is an elevational View of embodiment of ouri'nvention; n Fig. f1 is a corresponding sectional view;

a different Vthe sliding tails ofcpush pieces 16 and 17 the spherically recessed heads '-Fig. 5f`is an elevational view of another Fig. 6 is a corresponding` sectional view; `F 1g. 7 1s an elevational view of a steering gearfor automobiles of the worm and nut type, according to our invention;

Fig. 8 is a similar v iew showing a different embodiment; s i f F ig. 9 is a topview of said embodiment; Fig. 10 is an elevationalsview of a different` embodiment of the `elastic connection provided between the organ to be driven'and the intermediate organs, whichare in turn conn with central spindle/1; and sector 3 is integral with sleeve 5 coaxial with spindle 4 and mounted loose thereon. n v

Twolevers 6` and 7 are rigidly secured, through suitable keys or other means, tothe extremities of spindle 4 and sleeve 5 respectively, the lengths of said spindle and sleeve being suitably chosen. n

The ends of levers 6 and 7 are screw threaded at 8 and 9rrespectively (Fig. 2), so as to receivehollow nuts 10 and -11 respectively, which are locked by means of nuts 12.

Balllshaped pieces 14 are adapted toenvgagespherical recesses 13y provided in hol- NT oFF-Ice g PARIS, A121)` LUciEN JULES RENAUX, or LI-vRY- ennean,

low nuts 10`iand 11. Said piecesflt are pro-V V vided with axial bores `15 adapted-to receive Y of which tightly `fit oneither side. of the usualspherical member 18 of drag link 19. Springs 20 and 21 which are4 in compression are provided around the tails lof push pieces 16 and 17, said springsfbeing interposed between pieces 14 and the heads of said push pieces. The Whole of said push-pieces and springs is placed within a cylindrical sleeve 22 engaging the cylindricall shoulders 23 of pieces 14.

When worm screw 1 isl rotatedgin the direction of arrow f1 (Fig. 1) through the driving device connected to the aXis of said screw, the two half-sectors 2 and 3 are rotated to# gether in the direction of arrow f2 2) and levers Gand 7 rotated about their comvmon' axis. Lever 6 then exerts a positive action on the whole of the ball and socket device contained within tube 22., that is to. say it pushes, through hollow nut 10, 'piece 14, which in.. turn pushesspring 20. Said spring acts in turn upon push piece 16which is in contact with sphericalm'ember 18 vof drag` link 1.9. f

During ,hat motionwhich drives draglink 19"in`the direction 'of arrow/ f3 V(Fig. 2), spring 21, which is-'appliedagainstlpush piece 17 pushes theright hand piece 14 (Fig. 2) against hollow `'nutll of lever 7, which lever rotates aboutitsaxis inthe direction of arrow f Zandis stopped in that motion only ,when the teeth ofy sector'3, ywith which. itis integral,are applied against screw l (Eig-1).. i

`Lever 7 and sector 3 witlrwhichit isv integral have therefore made noeffective work. They have merely followed .the movement of thel wholedevi'ce in*` such manner as tobe always in tight contact with screw 1. .v Therefore, u onlscrew 1 being rotated in theopposite irectionto that above described, lever will immediately operate withoutbacklash, exactly in` the, 'same manner as above eX- lplained concerning lever f6, and ,sector2, which cooperates with'lever 6, will v be kept in tight Contact with screwl during its negaf tive displacement. Y e

Itwill be. readily understood ythat the antagonistic efforts exerted by springs 20 and 21 will tendtopush the extremities of levers 6 and 7 'iii opposite directions? v Itresults therefrom that, aseach oflthese levers is integral with one of the half-sectors Qr andf 3 respectively, each half-sector will beconstantly strongly applied against worm 1, thus balancing the pressures exerted on the-longitudinal-axis of saidw'orm '1. 1

The many advantages .of this arrangen'ient will be readily appreciated since it also makes it possible to automaticallytake up lthe play resulting from` normal' wearl of the moving pieces,l and,v by avoiding the jarring reac-` tions caused by said play, it prevents the rapid wear andtear of said pieces.-

urthermore, `the'tolerances allowed inthe manufacturing of these pieces may be considerably increased without any harm.

It should be noted that the whole system including the springs and the ball and socket joint slides freely within ltube 22, which provides for the pieces being held in position, even/in the case of one of the springs getting broken.m

y In Figs. 3 and 4 we have shown another embodiment in which levers 6 and 7 consist of leaf springs which play the part of springs 20 and 21. In that case, the eyes 27 and 28 of said springs are connected through a cross member 29 having a suitable length for ensuring the necessary tensioning of the leaf springs. Spherical memberl 18 is secured to said cross memberl 29. p

i In' the. embodiment shown in Figs. 5' andy 6,

spherical member 18is carriedby aleverv31 mounted loose onvspindle 4 about the vaxis of which spring levers 6 and 7 can rotate.

Thev steering gear, instead of being of the worm and sector type, might'as wellbe of the worm and nut type. v

VIn that case, two nuts 2 and 3 (Fig. 7) are mounted on 'screw 1.',Tw'o levers 35 and 36 keyed on spindle 4 and sleeve 5 are pivoted at 33y andy 34 to said nuts 2 and 3 respectively. Levers G'fand are also keyed on said spindle 4 and sleeve -respectively. The connection between said levers 6 and 7 and'drag link 19 is the same as that shownvin Figs. 1 and2. v e f In Figs. 8 and 9 we have shown another embodiment in which levers 6 and 7 (which are connected to the` drag link in the same manner asin the two rst examples) are jointed about an axis 4 and are integral with two half-nuts 2 and 3 respectively. The operation is the 1 same as in the preceding example.

' The connection betweenlevers 6'and7 and drag linkv 19 might also be made as shown in Fig. 10. vAccording to that embodiment' of our invention, lever f 7 "actuates rin a known manner, through vthe* medium of ,a spring21, drag link 19. for lever 6, itis connected to lever 7 through the medium ofv aspring 20 which is in compression. e `The operation ofthat embodiment `of our deviceis as follows: When levers 6 and7'are driven in the kdirection offarrow f, lever 7 acts directlylupon bar '19 in the direction of arrow f5, and lever 6 follows the movement, spring 20 doing away withy anyplay. When leversl and 7 rotate in the direction opposite to lthat of.v arrow f4, leverl 6 acts upon lever 7 through the intermediary of spring 20, and lever 7 directlyvactuateslink 19 in the direc tion opposite to that of arrow f5. Spring y2() also prevents any play between nut 3 and screw 1. z i l l In Fig. 11 we have shown another embodiment `in* whichdrag link 19 is connected only to. Vene I lever-through two .springs Y2() yand 21.

Said lever 6 swings about an axis/.1. land is y said levers.

connected through a slot 38 to atrunnion 39 carried by a nut 2. Said nut is connected through springs 40 to another nut 3. VNuts 2 and 3are screwedjon screw 1. v

Of course, springs 40, instead of being parallel to screw 1 might be concentric with said screw as shown in Fig. 12. In that case, each spring 40 is applied at one of its extremities against a shoulder/11 of nut l2, andat the other extremity against a shoulder 42 of nut 3.

The operation is as follows: When screw 1 rotates in such manner that nuts 2 and 3 move in the direction of arrow f, nut 2 directly drives lever 6 and springs 40 bear against nut 3 and prevent any play between said nut 3 and screw 1. When, on the contrar the nuts it should be well understoodthat we do not wish to'be limited thereto as there might be changes made in the arrangement disposition and form of the parts withoutv departing from the principle of our invention as comprehended within the scope of the appended ysaid levers are turned away from each other,

spring means interposed between said pivoted levers and adapted to urge said levers away from each other, and mechanism adapted to be operatedand connected with 2. In a transmission device, a driving screw, two shafts iitting into each other and freely rotatable on each other, two driven y members carried on `said two shafts respecother, and mechanism adapted to be operated and connected with said levers.

3. In a transmission device, a drivin screw, "two driven 4members provided witg screw threaded portions engaging said screw and adapted to be moved both in the same direction when said screw is rotated, two

ypivoted levers operatively connected with said two driven members respectively and adapted to move said two driven members in opposite directions along the screw when said `levers are turned awayl from each other,

a connecting 'member for a mechanism adapted to be driven interposed between said two levers, and spring means interposed between said connecting member and `each of said levers respectively and `adapted to urge said levers away from each other.

4. In a transmission device, a driving worm screw, two toothed sectors engaging said worm screw and adapted to be turned in the same direction when said worm screw is rot-ated, two pivoted levers connected with said two sectors respectively and adapted to turn said two sectors in opposite directions when said levers are turned away from each other, spring means interposed between said pivoted levers and adapted to. urge said levers away from each other, and mechanism adapted to be operated and connected with said levers.

EUGENE PROSPER RENAUX.

y lLUCIEN JULES RENAUX. 

